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Sunday, January 5, 2014

'Bye Bye' Phil Everly! You will be missed!

Phil Everly

We are mourning the loss of a true icon and major contributor to our favorite rockabilly/rock and roll industry a few days ago. Phil and Don Everly were performing with their parents and the mid 1940's, when their dad got his own radio station in Shenandoah, Iowa.

*** And, the rest...great harmonic history!

The two brothers took off, and, brought their amazing harmonies into our lives in the late 1950's with 'Wake Up Little Susie', 'Cathy's Clown', and 'All I Have to Do is Dream'. Phil and Don graced us with their Rockabilly and Pop/Rock style, charting most of their songs in the top 10, and, the above mentioned songs hit #l in 1957, 1958, and 1960.

Phil Everly wrote 'When Will I Be Loved', which also gained status in the Top10, with singer Linda Ronstadt in 1975. Linda really brought that song home with her electric voice, didn't she? I think my favorite Everly brother song is 'Wake Up Little Susie', and my wife Suzanne, always favored their 1958 number one hit 'Bird Dog' (well, to each...lol!)

And, in our book, these two guys still rock!

* Phil Everly passed away Friday, January 3, 2014, at the age of 74, just a couple of weeks shy of his 75th birthday.

He will be missed, but, his talents and accomplishments will truly remain in our hearts always!

***

In 2005, Suzanne and I recorded the Everly Brothers 'Bye Bye Love', using our home recording system. As a tribute to Phil Everly, I brought our song to this post.

Suzanne and I did the vocals ourselves, with me on guitar, and Suzanne on keys.

'Bye Bye Love' cover by Karo and Suzanne

*** Thank you so much for coming by to visit. I appreciate you all joining us in remembering Phil Everly, and learning bit of The Everly Brothers history. I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas holiday, and would like to extend my best wishes to you for a great New Year. Stop in and say hello if you get the chance.

7 comments:

That was awesome! Brings back memories, Loved hearing your voice again too and your piano! Some thing in life you learn to appreciate! Karo was excellent. I can see you have a lot of fun together with your music.

Hi, Karo! How fitting it is for you to pay tribute to the iconic Phil Everly. He and his brother were a big part of your childhood and mine. I was introduced to the music of the Everlys in the 50s the same way I got to know Elvis - through my older brother who bought their records, brought them into our home and gave them to me for safe keeping when he went off to join the Air Force. I played those 45s often and memorized them.

If you say the names "Phil and Don" to somebody our age, chances are they know exactly who you're talking about. Sadly, an ever growing percentage of the population has little knowledge of entertainers of the 20th century. One by one the greats like Phil Everly are dying off and leaving a void that is not being filled by today's flavor of the month pop idols.

The list of Everly Brothers recordings I love is too long for this comment box, but a few of my favorites are "Dream," "Devoted to You," "Let It Be Me," their stone cool version of "Lucille" and "Crying in the Rain." I am also reminded of the version of "Bye Bye Love" sung by Ben Vereen in the 1979 musical motion picture All That Jazz. You and Suzanne sounded sensational on your rendition, good buddy. I can understand why you like Jack Scott. You sound a lot like him.

Thank you, Karo, for standing up to testify about the late great Phil Everly!

Hi Shady. I believe you're right about anyone our age...'Phil and Don' has been a household name in many of our lives throughout the years! And, I just didn't realize they went so far back! I haven't heard their version of 'Lucille', but, I read that they did that one. I will have to look it up.

Thank you very much for your compliments...I do like Jack Scott, and thanks for commenting that I sound a lot like him. I really appreciate you coming by this evening-I just threw this post together on a whim! The Everly Brothers were the beginning of some of the of the greatest! See you soon, Shady!

Hi Karo. May I first of all start off by wishing you and Suzanne a very happy and healthy new year. I posted about this on my facebook Timeline, and I was playing my 60's LP of the Everly Brothers on my retro record player after I had heard of Phil's death. So sad. They were absolutely brilliant and certainly their songs were a soundtrack to my teenage years. This is a lovely tribute to Phil, and I thank you for that. I really enjoyed listening to your cover version, singing along with Suzanne - great!

Hi Thisisme...Happy New Year to you! I saw your retro phonograph, it's really cool! They just don't make them like that anymore, but, maybe they will come back. We've still got record albums and 45 records saved that we can play. The Everly Brothers were of the best, weren't they? I'm glad we got to enjoy them in our day, and, of course, we still do enjoy them.

Thank you so much for coming by, Thisisme, and I'm glad you enjoyed our version. You know, we recorded that in 2005! Thank you for your compliments! Have a great week! ☺

Hi Karo, this was a great tribute to Phil Everly and his brother Don! They were always favorites of mine. It was a challenge trying to copy their harmonies and expressions! And, I learned a lot about harmonizing just from listening to their amazing voices!

Thank you for the experience of doing this song with you. And, I hope we can do some more in the near future. ♥

Remember this?

My son Chad recently inherited this gas pump from his great uncle...looks like he's up and open for business! ~photo by Chad Trammell * Paris, TX * June 2013

My Sound Technician, 'Scooter'

photo taken October 21, 2009

Merry Christmas!

photo by Suzanne * December 2011

Sun Studio

photo taken by Suzanne

A Little About Me

I was born and raised in Bridgeport, Texas...now living in Fort Worth, Texas with my wife. We have a precious grandson, Scooter, and 4 gorgeous granddaughters. I am a Rockabilly fan from the 1950's and 60's. My influences were Elvis, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Jack Scott, and others. I have recorded some old Rockabilly, Country and Rock and Roll songs at home. I am also a classic car buff, especially when it comes to the classic Mustang. I hope to entertain you with my blog. Believe me, it will be a learning experience for me too!